Born 1957. Journalist and author and former press secretary to Tony Blair as Leader of the Opposition (1994-97) and as Prime minister (1997-2000). From 2000-2003, he was director of communications for the Labour Party (2000-03). Before 1994, he had been political editor of Today newspaper and the Daily Mirror. Campbell gave detailed testimony on the political media and what he saw as the decline of genuine investigative journalism and the increasing tendency of owners, editors and senior journalists to wish to be political players. Embellishment and pure invention were tolerated and encouraged by some editors and owners, he said.
Conservative MP for Surrey Heath and Education Secretary at the time of the Inquiry. A former journalist at the Aberdeen Press and Journal, the Times, the BBC and the Spectator. Told the Inquiry that sometimes "individuals reach for regulation in order to deal with failures of character or morality, and sometimes that regulation is right and appropriate but some of us believe that before the case for regulation is made, the case for liberty needs to be asserted as well".
Founded 1962. Self-regulatory organisation of the UK advertising industry. The ASA Chairman, Lord Smith of Finsbury (Chris Smith), gave evidence of the organisation’s experience of regulating the media in relation to phone hacking, computer hacking, “blagging”, bribery and corruption.
Founded 2009. Non-profit British civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation. Set up to campaign against state surveillance and threats to civil liberties, it campaigns on issues including: the rise of the surveillance state, police use of technology, freedom and privacy online, use of intrusive communications interception powers including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and wider data-protection issues. Gave evidence to Inquiry that it believed Data Protection Act was weak and that Information Commissioners Office had no “real enforcement powers”. Claimed its research in 2012 highlighted more than 900 police officers and police staff misusing personal data.
Formed 2011. Now known as The Media Reform Coalition. Set up to coordinate the most effective contribution by civil society groups, academics and media campaigners to the debate over media regulation, ownership and democracy in the light of the phone-hacking crisis.
Founded 1992, with focus on improving quality of policy ideas for the UK and EU. It has produced studies promoting the design, effective use and subsequent audit of impact assessments. Offered evidence to the Inquiry on the failings of the Press Complaints Commission.
Professor of Media and Communications law and regulation at Manchester University at time of Inquiry. Founding editor of the Journal of Media Law and member of the editorial board of Communications Law. Offered evidence on ethical discussion within journalism. Advocated giving attention to editorial selection and choice, topics which, he thought, were not adequately covered in the current Editors' Code in relation to inaccuracies.
Founded 1866. Registered charity in the UK and the oldest penal-reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. The charity focuses on penal reform in England and Wales. Submitted evidence of the misrepresentation of the nature of crime and sentencing as well as misleading sensationalism in cases such as that of "Baby P", where The Sun called for its readers to campaign for higher sentencing.
Now known as the Press Council of Ireland and responsible for the oversight of professional principles embodied in a Code of Practice, and with upholding the freedom of the press. Press Ombudsman John Horgan told the Inquiry that the independence of the body from both industry and state was vital. Every major newspaper in Ireland had been the subject of critical adverse findings, he said.
Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) since 2008 with particular expertise in public-service broadcasting and media regulation both within the UK and in Europe. Before joining the Institute, he was Controller of Public Policy at the BBC and before that worked as a journalist, including for BBC World Service and BBC News and Current Affairs. Submitted evidence based on two Institute studies on rights to privacy and on News International.
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published three reports of relevance to the Leveson Inquiry which can be accessed here:
British Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards from 2008 to 2012. Lyon was involved in the investigations of both the MPs expenses scandal and the cash-for-influence scandal of 2010. He told the Inquiry that his office had no responsibility for the conduct of the press.
John Mulholland was editor of the The Observer at the time of the Inquiry, having worked for the Guardian Media Group since 1994. He gave evidence that all staff were obliged to abide by the PCC code of conduct as well as the more rigorous GNM editorial code. Contributors were similarly expected to abide by the codes. There were strict procedures in place for any journalist wishing to go undercover or use any form of subterfuge. The Observer had, he said, used the services of a private investigator under an earlier editor.
Editor of The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday at the time of the Inquiry. Was in broad agreement with Lord Black's proposals and believed they would have little effect on working practices at his two papers.
Solicitor and Partner at Linklaters, the legal representatives of News International at the Inquiry and inhouse lawyer. Walls had been appointed a partner in 1987 as an expert in contentious commercial practice, principally fraud investigation and asset recovery, insolvency and banking. The Inquiry requested Linklaters’ assistance in identifying those involved in the sourcing, preparation, writing and editing of a News of the World story in 2008 concerning Kate McCann’s diary. The NoW had ceased publishing in July 2011 and Linklaters informed the court of the difficulties this presented.
Formed in 1913. The ABI is the home of professional private sector investigation in the UK, working to raise standards in an otherwise unregulated industry.
Founded 2004. American online social-media and networking-service company based in Menlo Park, California. Richard Beecroft Allan, Facebook's director of public policy for Europe at the time of the Inquiry, gave evidence and was questioned about policy concerning inter alia pornography, bullying, violence and hate speech, as well as on Facebook's policies on removal of posted comments.
Former Deputy Editor of The Mirror and Editor of The People at the time of giving evidence. Scott told the Inquiry he was broadly in favour of better self-regulation. He left The People in 2014 to run PR firm GingerComms.
